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| >> >> Auto Moving News The Petersen Automotive Museum was started On June 11, 1994, by Margie and Robert E. Petersen .contributing $5 million to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. In April 2000, the Petersens made an additional payment $24.8 million dollars to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum to withdraw the bond debt and establish the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation as a self-governing nonprofit organization. Now, the Petersen Automotive Museum is treated as the nation's prestigious automotive museum. Petersen Automotive Museum has four floors; where the first floor exhibits the history of the automobile. Visitors are not only invited to walk through the exhibits but to experience settings of the early hours Los Angeles where the world's first shopping district was intended. The second floor presents classic cars, vintage motorcycles, five rotating galleries with state-of-the-art displays of racecars, concept cars, celebrity and movie cars, and auto design and technology. The Family Discovery Center is situated on the third floor. Designed to kindle interest in science by way of explaining the working of automobile, the 6,500 square-foot, interactive hands-on learning center teaches children fundamental scientific principles by explaining the fundamental functions of a automobile. The fourth floor comprises of an impressive all glass penthouse conference centers, Founder's Lounge and kitchen, which is available for special events and functions. Labels: Automotive museum at Los Angeles digg it                 One of the most important key factors for the survival for any medium to large sized automobile industry is innovation. The research and development efforts of the automotive industry are primarily focused on technologies that will make the automobile as environmental friendly, as reasonable, and as secure as possible. Invention of such technologies is the goal of the vehicle manufacturers and other suppliers. Many innovations introduced in cars and trucks have come from merchant companies, including, electronic fuel injection electronic stability control anti-lock braking systems (ABS), auto-dimming mirrors and a host of others. While the vehicle manufacturers initiate the research and development work, they require their parts suppliers also to develop and refine many of the technologies and devices necessary to make the new systems feasible. The results of new innovations include sophisticated batteries capable of long range on the road without frequent recharging, bio fuels for both gasoline and diesel engines, economical catalysts for fuel cells.  Fuel cell is the next big revolution in the automobile industry. Research into the development of viable fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) is intended for producing economical fuel cells, improving their efficiency, and creating effective ways to produce and store hydrogen and other fuels. U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), Department of Energy (DOE) and CaFCP, the California Fuel Cell Partnership formed; are intended to encourage private companies and government agencies to work together for FCVs commercialization. Labels: Innovations in transport engineering digg it  The 2010 North American International Auto Show(NAIAS) which was started on January 11th is the place where the worldwide automotive community will once again meet together to know about the latest innovations and products in automobile industry. This auto show will wind up on January 24th 2010. Besides several new vehicle debuts, in national and international level, the 2010 NAIAS will also consists of some of the world's most eagerly awaited automotive news and products. The North American International Auto Show has declared the introduction of Electric Avenue, a 37,000-square foot facet on the main floor of the 2010 show that will showcase electric vehicles and technology of both conventional automakers and pioneering entrepreneurs. The display area will exhibit nearly 20 vehicles as well as symposiums and other special proceedings on the nearby NAIAS stage.  One of the most fascinating debuts in the 2010 North American International Auto Show is Lexus's LFA supercar of worth $350,000. It is named as the two seat supercar by Lexus; the vehicle holds the top position in Lexus's F portfolio, a lineup of high end sports performance vehicles. LFA's public sale will start in early 2011, and only 20 hand built cars will be produced each month and a maximum quantity of 500 can be produced. Production starts in December at Toyota's Motomachi manufacturing plant in Japan, and customers can customize their cars with various colors and wheel designs along with other options. On the road, the LFA will be able to speed up from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds with a peak speed of 202 mph, appreciation to its 10 cylinder, 552 horsepower engine. The car is made up of strong yet lightweight carbon fiber reinforced polymer, which makes it comparatively lighter than aluminum design. Labels: NAIAS trend setter in automobile industry digg it  Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, has reported record results for 2009 despite a difficult year for the automobile industry, as it pursues Japanese rival Toyota for the title of world number one. Volkswagen said it sold 6.29 million vehicles, an increase of 1.1 percent from the 2008 figure, and won 11.4 percent of the global market, up from 10.3 percent a year earlier. The global car market shrank by more than 6 percent, the group said in a statement. It added that 2010 market share have to be even stronger, as it works to overtake Toyota by 2018 as the biggest car maker all over the world. Toyota has not yet posted results for 2009. Volkswagen vice president Mr. Christian Klingler was quoted as warning, however, that 2010 would be 'another challenging year', with no signs of a sustained recovery. However he said China as well as Brazil would show an upward trend. Amongst the German group's 10 brands, the Volkswagen nameplate reported a 7.8 percent increase to 3.95 million vehicles last year, while its high-end unit Audi posted a drop of 5.4 percent to 949,700. Volkswagen benefited from car scrapping premiums worldwide in 2009, as buyers focused on smaller, less expensive cars to make the most of state-subsidized windfalls. In China, now Volkswagen's biggest market, sales soared by 36.7 percent to 1.4 million units. Labels: Volkswagen increases sales and market share digg it Automotive manufacturing senior managers have recognized discovery of alternative fuel resources as the important trend in front of the automobile industry and the industry is also focused on manufacturing low-priced cars and hybrid vehicles to meet up with consumer demands, this is according to a yearly global survey by KPMG. The results of this automobile survey is based on three criteria they are, Fuel efficiency was ranked as the first, while environmental friendliness was second followed by safety innovation in third. The rating of most important alternative fuels in the automobile industry in future is as follows, 1. Hybrid systems 2. Battery electric power 3. Fuel cell electric power 4. biodiesel A car's design and model is least bothered by the consumers as per this survey. “Automobile producers are in the difficult situation of being asked to contend on both knowledge and rate. With worldwide customers still in the effect of recession, those OEMs who can manage with both technology and cost will be driving the automobile industry" Gary Silberg, national automotive industry leader for KPMG, said in his statement. Labels: Global survey on alternative fuels digg it The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), an association whose associates are General Motors Company, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Group LLC. This organization is looking for tender information (RFPIs) for four plans associated with sophisticated battery development for advanced combination of electric vehicles.
USABC's four projects for development are:
1. Development of sophisticated batteries with high efficiency for electric vehicle (EV) purpose;
2. Development of sophisticated energy storage structures for high-power, lower energy, energy storage system (LEESS) for power assist hybrid electric vehicle (PAHEV) applications;
3. Development of sophisticated batteries with high efficiency for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications;
4. An expertise evaluation of planned sophisticated battery technologies for EV applications.
The RFPIs for sophisticated battery advancement are meant for developers with electrochemical energy storage expertise that are competent of meeting the USABC long term requirement for electric motor vehicle applications. The RFPI for the Development of Advanced High Performance Batteries for electric motor vehicle applications. The new Applications look for high energy to power ratio batteries, which use a carbon based substance as the negative electrode active substance.
The major technological confronts, which should be tackled to progress market penetration of energy storage structures are power density discharge rate, energy storage, life expectancy complexity and cost effectiveness.
Labels: US Advanced Battery Consortium's new R and D venture digg it  The Seoul Metropolitan Government initiated the test run of hybrid taxis from December 3, to renovate existing gas taxis into eco friendly ones which will facilitate the improvement of air quality of the city. To launch this taxi, the city government has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment of Korea on introduction of hybrid taxis. Korea LPG Association, Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association and Hyundai Kia Motors have approved that upgrading the air quality and sinking the emission of greenhouse gases in the city are burning problems. For this reason, these associations have agreed to support the distribution of hybrid taxis. The Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association will choose participating taxi companies. Hyundai Kia Motors as an automobile manufacturer will observe and develop new technologies and ensures durability of components. Korea LPG Association will offer fuel for the taxis, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Environment will take care of overall administration of the project.  Eco friendly taxis use LP gas as fuel and adopted liquefied petroleum direct injection engine to boost 1,600cc engine power. The taxi also has a set up of 15kw electric motor as supplementary power unit to produce electricity for charging the battery. The hybrid taxi also shut down the engine when the car is not running to reduce fuel consumption. The vehicle is expected to be particularly effective for the taxi fleet as taxis spend most of the time waiting with their engine on. Hybrid taxi is extremely eco friendly as one hybrid taxi is likely to lessen more than six tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Source: http://automotive.einnews.com/article.php?nid=24563 Labels: Go green hybrid taxi launched in Seoul digg it
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Fuel cell is the next big revolution in the automobile industry. Research into the development of viable fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) is intended for producing economical fuel cells, improving their efficiency, and creating effective ways to produce and store hydrogen and other fuels. U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), Department of Energy (DOE) and CaFCP, the California Fuel Cell Partnership formed; are intended to encourage private companies and government agencies to work together for FCVs commercialization.
